Character and academics: what good schools do: though there has been increasing interest in character education among policy makers and education professionals, many schools hesitate to do anything that might detract from their focus on increasing academic performance. The authors present evidence indicating that this may be misguided.

The growth of character education programs in the United States has coincided with the rise in high-stakes testing of students achivement. The No Child Left Behind Act asks schools to contribute not only to students' academic performance but also to their character. Both the federal government and the National Education Association(NEA) agree that schools have this dual responsibility. In a statement introducing a new U.S. Department of Education character education website, then Secretary of Education Rod Paige outlined the need for such programs:

    Sadly, we live in a culture without    role models,  where millions of students    are taught the wrong values--or    no  values at all. This culture of    callousness has led to a staggering  achievement gap, poor health status,    overweight students, crime,  violence,  
  teenage pregnancy, and tobacco    and alcohol abuse... . Good  character  
   is the product of good judgments    made every day. (1)  

And Bob Chase, the former president of the NEA, issued his own forceful call to action:

    We  must make an explicit commitment  
   to formal character education.    We must integrate character  education  
   into the fabric of the curriculum    and into extracurricular  activities.  
   We must train teachers in character    education--both preservice  
   and inservice. And we must consciously    set about creating a  moral  
   climate within our schools. (2) 

Despite the clear national interest in character education, many schools are leery of engaging in supplementary initiatives that, although worthy, might detract from what they see as their primary focus: increasing academic achievement. Moreover, many schools lack the resources to create new curricular initiatives. Yet the enhancement of student character is a bipartisan mandate that derives from the very core of public education. The purpose of public schooling requires that schools seek to improve both academic and character education.

If it could be demonstrated that implementing character education programs is compatible with efforts to improve school achievement, then perhaps more schools would accept the challenge of doing both. But until now there has been little solid evidence of such successful coexistence.

DEFINITIONS AND RESEARCH

Character education is the responsibility of adults. While the term character education has historically referred to the duty of the older generation to form the character of the young through experiences affecting their attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors, more recent definitions include such developmental outcomes as a positive perception of school, emotional literacy, and social justice activism. (3)

There are sweeping definitions of character education (e.g., Character Counts' six pillars, Community of Caring's five values, or the Character Education Partnership's 11 principles) and more narrow ones. Character education can be defined in terms of relationship virtues (e.g., respect, fairness, civility, tolerance), self-oriented virtues (e.g., fortitude, self-discipline, effort, perseverance) or a combination of the two. The state of California has incorporated character education criteria into the application process for its statewide distinguished school recognition program and, in the process, has created its own definition of character education. Each definition directs the practice of character education somewhat differently, so that programs calling themselves "character education" …